Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase: Nate's Top Gunslingers

We keep moving the position needle from our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase, as we look at what in my eyes were the top gunslingers in the building at the Aberdeen Dome on Saturday. If you are a college coach that likes young men with high upside, position flexibility, early names to your 2028 recruiting boards, and more, you might want to look at our list of Gunslingers in Aberdeen.    One 2026 quarterback I am glad I got a live eval on last Saturday is Devils Lake's [player_tooltip player_id='1568605' first='Mason' last='Palmer']. I couldn't find much much tape pre-showcase, but the live eval showed off a quarterback that has a live arm, and more polished in the pocket than I had expected. Mason also shows off well-versed balance on his touch throws on intermediate and deep routes. You could also gauge the mechanics that Mason showed off had a fluidity to them and again, brought the balance I wanted to see during the live eval. Mason also amongst the best in the QB group with the change of direction drills in testing, the pro agility (4.47), and L-drill (7.43) and in the top tier in broad jump (9'1). Mason is one that needs to get his tape up and out there swiftly, as he surely looks one that has the skillsets to play on Saturdays.   <a href="https://x.com/mason_palmer2">Twitter </a>     Conway was a name I heard from a handful of college coaches on Saturday as this young man flashed the athletic profile to open some doors at the next-level. They have to be intriguing from an upside perspective how much frame they can add to Conway's 6'1 nearly 150 pound frame that put up some consistent testing numbers across the board popping out with a 9'0 broad jump and 4.53 in the pro agility which shows steady growth from our winter showcase and that looks the same across the board. I feel Conway has a lot of upside and position flexibility that got released during our showcase in Aberdeen and should start to gather more attention before we get into camp season. <a href="https://x.com/collinsconway7">Twitter</a>     Jace was one of a couple Britton-Hecla Braves that came out of nowhere on my live evals during our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase that impressed me. Jace showed off change of direction that you don't see frequently at the quarterback position, as I thought his pro agility top number had the wiggle room from an upside perspective to grow swiftly over time. The southpaw 2027 QB showed off a more fluid release than I expected and made his best waves on intermediate crossing routes in which Jace showed off good timing and placement weighing in his WRs change of direction. The elusiveness I saw didn't take long to find a match on tape, but compared to where he was this fall Jace's suddenness has jumped up swiftly to give the Braves an edge heading into Jace's junior season. Jace's upside is super intriguing to me out of Britton-Hecla as a four-sport athlete. <a href="https://x.com/Jace_Rein">Twitter</a>     It's worth repeating as I heard it not once, but multiple times "there is no way that kid is a freshman," was a common quote that came from college coaches on Saturday in Aberdeen. Here at PRZ Dakotas, we have had Javi on our board as an 8th grader, so it was no surprise to me that he was in our top-tier amongst the quarterback group on Saturday. The poise Javi has continues to grow inside the pocket and man, can this young man grow chemistry quickly with his wide receiving core as I was super impressed with his ball placement on all three levels on just about every route I witnessed. At nearly 6'3 200 pounds, Javi also saw growth with his pro agility number, with a 4.72 with is sound for his size and class. We could certainly be looking at our SD 2028 classes new QB1 here in a couple weeks, stay tuned.     2028 quarterback talent was at a premium at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase, which includes our QB1 in the 2028 class in [player_tooltip player_id='1596559' first='Ryder' last='Sutton'] out of Minot High. Ryder was one that pre-showcase I was fired up to get a live eval on and it lived up to the hype to what I saw on tape. He showed off some of the best mechanics I saw in the underclassmen group of quarterbacks. The fluidity and timing I witnessed watching Ryder go thru his progressions were well-versed and he showed off balanced touch on each throw I got to watch during his reps in 1v1s. I can tell based on the football IQ that Ryder has already, that he processes at a higher game-speed than the testing numbers might show at the moment. And you have to factor in, this young man is just a freshman that has plenty of time and room to grow and develop with his athleticism in a testing setting. Being a four-sport athlete, will grow that athleticism very quickly in my eyes.   <a href="https://x.com/RyderSutton28">Twitter</a>     Gabe is another quarterback that I feel elevated into our top-tier group amongst the quarterbacks in his Dakotas Showcase showing in Aberdeen on Saturday. Gabe started off by IMO being one of our top testers amongst the QB group popping out especially with his 9'6 broad jump and near the top of the group in the 40-yard dash, pro agility and L-drill as well. The 6'0 nearly 180 pounder from powerhouse Kindred, showed off faster and more fluid mechanics with into progressions than what I saw in December as I also felt Gabe was more efficent on all three levels than he was in December. I loved watching Gabe's timing on his throws progress, even just a bit from December as one of his top skillsets he has. Gabe should surely gather some attention over the coming months on his recruiting trail as Gabe is one of my top risers in this QB grouping.   <a href="https://x.com/gwhip22">Twitter</a>     Kaleb was on my preview of QBs to watch from our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase, and he proved why from all the reps I was able to watch on Saturday in Aberdeen. The verified 6'1 nearly 180 pounder from Pierre, created some chatter amongst the college coaches I talked to, as they were intrigued with the growth Kaleb made from last December's eval. He showed off excellent speed with his progressions and brought a more poised and instinctive nature to his throwing release on the reps I got to watch on Saturday. Even from the intial eye test last Saturday, myself and the college coaches noticed the increased athletic movement that Kaleb has generated like from the Governors strength and conditioning program, which is a great one, to say the least! Kaleb is one that I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him get some Division II attention coming soon. Another QB on the up!   <a href="https://x.com/K15Lounsbury">Twitter</a>     Alec I could grasp had the "chip on his shoulder" mentality after our December's Dakotas Showcase, wanting to go for his second QB MVP last Saturday, and he got it done by continuing to grow his development from the live eval on Saturday as our QB1 in the 2026 class. His growth athletically was well-noted too not just by me, but the college coaches in attendance, taking down his 40-yard dash time to a 4.87 as a verified 6'3, 219 pound gunslinger. I could also grasp from my live eval, that Alec seemed more elusive with his pocket movement, starting off his day with a 4.37 in the pro agility. Even by the early look I had a head of testing, Alec appeared with much more dexterity which was great to see. Watching his mechanics, Alec appeared in my eyes more robotic with his throwing motion and displayed that arm-talent on all three levels in Aberdeen on Saturday. That nearly robotic motion, ball placement, elite size, is going to create some shockwaves this summer at college camps as Alec surely had the attention of all three levels of college football with their eyes on him last Saturday.

We keep moving the position needle from our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase, as we look at what in my eyes were the top gunslingers in the building at the Aberdeen Dome on Saturday. If you are a college coach that likes young men with high upside, position flexibility, early names to your 2028 recruiting boards, and more, you might want to look at our list of Gunslingers in Aberdeen.